Money Down the Drain – remind you of anyone?

Save KEMP was pleased to get an email from George Turner about a report he has published about the water industry entitled ”Water Down the Drain: Getting a better deal for consumers from the water industry”. This is now required reading for everyone at Save KEMP HQ.

You may well already have read the national press coverage of this issue (see links below).

None of us will be surprised that Thames ‘We Want To Trash Your Park And Charge You For The Privilege’ Water and their cash generating super sewer get more than a passing mention in the report. Here is one quote:

“The situation has come to a head with Thames Water, which has come to the government asking for support to build its super sewer through London. Despite making very healthy profits for a number of years the company is financially too weak to carry out the project alone.”

And if you are wondering what ‘the situation’ is try combining these phrases into a sentence – ‘widespread tax avoidance’, ‘very little public accountability’, ‘difficult for the public to know what is going on with its water suppliers’. Oh and you will need ‘Thames Water’ too!

“Today I published “Water Down the Drain: Getting a better deal for consumers from the water industry” with Centre Forum. The paper tells the story of how private equity investors have for years stripped out equity from the water industry to create very high profits in the short term but have left the companies financially very weak. The result is that they are now coming to the government to ask for help in financing their investments, and have made it more difficult for the regulator to cut prices in the future.

The report has been backed by the former regulator of the water industry Sir Ian Byatt and was widely covered in today’s press (see below). A question was also asked to the Prime Minister today about the issue at PMQs. As you can imagine I am particularly pleased with the coverage in Water and Wastewater Treatment as this means the report may now feature on Have I got News for You.